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Brain fart. Make that $2/gallon, and the time for the hybrid to cover the difference plummets to "only" 18 years.
I was comparing highway vs highway, but if you want to compare 25 vs 50 mpg city at $2/gallon and 15k miles/year, thats $1200 vs 600. $600/year, or 10 years. You get the idea-- it takes longer to pay the difference than most people would own the car.
There are tax incentives to buy hybrids now ($2000 credit I believe), but those are being phased out over the next few years.
If you do a LOT of driving and plan to keep the car a long time it can make economic sense, but as it stands hybrids really are for people who want to have a high-tech new toy, or want to be high and mighty about how environmentally friendly they are while not inconveniencing themselves by doing anything drastic like giving up cars altogether.
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